Blues and greens

I have a line of work that is monochromatic blues and greens with some black and whites to make everything pop. I have an extensive background in color, so my choices are well thought out, and it doesn't hurt that my colors are great in my firing range.^6.
I just don't like browns so much. I want to know if other potters think that working with blues and greens is a sell out. Be honest.
I will not be changing my colors, because I truly do like what I have going on, but I am just curious. https://www.facebook...92711131&type=1

There are two general approaches to making and selling ceramics.........

Make what you love and then find a market for it.

Make what the market loves and then sell it.

Some people do one... some people do the other...and some do a little of both.

So the real question here is........ ask yourself why you are asking this question. When you find the answer to that...... you'll likely have your answer.

best,

.................john

I started with make what I love and find a market-later I learned that doing both worked best as far as making a living.This was learned 35 yeas ago.One thing about color is it sells better in some areas better than others-for me browns are the slowest sellers but sell better inland in the western states-The coastal areas blues and greens do better. I have no experience on the left coast.Mark

Clay Tile Mom;
I am one of the former of the two types of artists. I make what I love, and then people come to me. If you keep trying to find out what the next big trend is, you will always fall behind. You cannot please everyone. So please yourself. If you are selling work to make a living, you need to find out what people want. My last sale, I made a brown glaze. I had two pie dishes at $50.00 each in the brown Temmoku glaze. Both sold. I am not partial to brown. I like colour. Now I am in inner turmoil. Did I sell myself out, or was I just covering my bases with some variety for everyone? Time will tell.
Your colours are working. If you like them, keep doing them.
TJR.

I have a line of work that is monochromatic blues and greens with some black and whites to make everything pop. I have an extensive background in color, so my choices are well thought out, and it doesn't hurt that my colors are great in my firing range.^6. I just don't like browns so much. I want to know if other potters think that working with blues and greens is a sell out. Be honest. I will not be changing my colors, because I truly do like what I have going on, but I am just curious. https://www.facebook...92711131&type=1

I've read several articles over the years that say that good old cobalt blue outsells every other glaze color. I had a ceramics instructor once who would very much discourage students from using cobalt blue. He said he got tired of looking at beginning student pots that were predominantly this color.

I have heard so many potters say they refuse to use blue "because it sells". Isn't that kind of the point if you like food and shelter?
When I did high volume production I always consulted the Pantone site for next years colors. It is no coincidence that carpets match furniture and furniture matches paint colors and they all match the paintings, dinnerware, throw pillows, clothing, shoes ...etc. I did not see any reason why my bread and butter pieces should be left out. : - )
I advocate "Some and Some" ... Some for paying bills and some for your soul.

Your color choices seem appropriate for your work, they are neither garish or bland, and if they sell well, why change? If you can use one base glaze and get several color choices from it, I say that is a good business decision and allows you the flexibility of exploring form for changes and growth instead of color. If you are purchasing glazes, then minimizing the number of glazes makes sense too. Since they are transparent, you can make changes with layering over underglazes another choice.

As one who enjoys trying new glazes, both made from recipes and purchased, and has over 50 glazes to choose from in my studio, I can tell you the thought of having two or three, or an adaptable base glaze is sometimes a strong pull.

I always kind of thought the blue/green thing was a myth. Do those colors really sell better? I haven't found any of either in a glaze that does much for me, so I wouldn't know . I have an idea that someday I will find a recipe for a mid range light gray/green matte glaze, but until I come across it (anyone out there have the magic recipe?), I will stick to my blacks, whites and browns. I think if the pot looks good, it looks good, period. I try not to worry too much about "rules", unless they are technical or practical...

"Blue is the top choice for 35% of Americans, followed by green (16%), purple (10%) and red (9%)""A preference for blue and green may be due to a preference for certain habitats that were beneficial in the ancestral environment..."(Source: Wikipedia).

There is a definite snobbery amoungst some potters against blue. They think it is a beginner's colour and that they have somehow "advanced" to other colours/glazes.Is this perhaps because they think if they can mix their own glazes they can snub "ordinary" blue ?

I've been around so long that i have seen trends come and go. when i started, i subscribed to ceramics monthly. it seemed that the articles were all about fuel firing and cone 10. any "real" potters worked at cone 10. all the colors were brown or dark something. the pictures back in 1972 were few and were only of work at cone 10. the advertisers included the sellers of cone 06 commercial products but were guaged toward the owners of the many "Ceramics" stores which were then enjoying a boom. (we saw them rise and become Paint Your Own shops in the recent past.) and fail again, recently.

the serious work was done by those potters you new folks know as historical figures, bernard leach, michael cardew, shoji hamada, harrison mcintosh, and many more. and glazes were dipped.

in my opinion, color in pots took off after the really beautiful work was able to be photographed in color. what was the name of the woman whose article showed how she made "crayons" and shredded them into her work? started with an H i think. the black background was speckled with all these amazing bright colors. she sold a line of dishes in some very high-class department store. this was probably concurrent with the energy crisis and the attendant outcry about going all the way to cone 10 using gas. such waste!

funny, then we began to see articles in CM about the possibility of using cone 6 and being considered real potters anyway. and now there are many of you using the tiny, little jars of underglaze. how do you dip into those jars?

Back in the days when I was a painter (oils & acrylic) it drove me crazy to have someone refer to a painting for "over the sofa" or to "Match the upholstery". I rebelled! When I'd get a special order, I always took a tour of where the painting was going to live.

One time, everything in the room was blue or green and I felt as though I was under water. I produced a painting to match their color scheme but I also took one where my predominant color was cadmium red with burnt sienna (and eight pillows in various shades of red to orange). I hung the painting they'd ordered on the wall above a baby grand in dark wood (not blue!). Ho Hum, was my reaction. The owners didn't seem overjoyed either. I asked them to leave the room for a bit and hung my painting choice, and tossed the pillows on several chairs and the sofa, then asked their reaction. They went with my choice and I still think that art--paintings, sculpture, pottery--should not "blend in".

I guess what I'm trying to say is make your work strong and color it the way you like, but maybe increase your palette so you also have a counter-point to the blues & greens. In color, opposites on a color wheel are called complimentary colors. They sing in harmony.

Shirley, I think it was great that people were asking you to "match the upholstery". They treated you as an interior designer.
You might be a great artist too, but they needed somebody to help them decorate their room. It didn't make you less of an artist.
When somebody asks me to make a platter or pitcher for their bedroom or kitchen, I always take it as an opportunity to be creative.
I look at their existing design and come up with some interesting ideas.

Clay tile Mom, I think it is a big mistake that you are trying to adjust your work to what the crowd wants. First of all, you never know anyway what they will want this or next day. Secondly, if you take an approach of "color matching", you lose your personality. An artist should not change himself to please the public. The artist should educate and lead the public. Start creating something that is standing out, and you will be able to sell it regardless of the color.